Northern Wisconsin detective Webb investigates the murder of Tom Johanssen, a man with a colorful history who left for Germany and never returned home until the day of his death. Webb is quickly taken off the case because of his sister's romantic history with Tom, which had ended in him swindling her of all her money. Working privately, Webb speaks to Tom Johanssen's parents, who say that Tom would tell them every three years that he planned to return to town, but he never showed up. Tom's brother, Scott, confirms that Tom did in fact return to town every three years on sketchy business, but could never muster the courage to face his parents. Tom's other brother, John, was not home. When Webb arrives at the house of Tom's ex-wife, whom he'd abandoned with four kids for Germany, he finds police officers there to arrest her. The gun had been found in her house. Unconvinced Tom's ex-wife would wait thirty-three years for revenge, Webb reviews Tom's long criminal records and realizes he might have cause to fake his own death. It turns out the person who identified the body was Tom's brother, John, who had been tapped to lie; the body was not Tom's but his look-a-like business partner who was staged to die in his place.